Parc-de-la-Montagne

Visited a bunch of streets in Gatineau just north of Boulevard St Raymond for the first time, in an area called Parc-de-la-Montagne. This was farmland up until 1955 when it was purchased and developed by J.G. Bisson. The houses in this area are similar in proportion to these two below, which appear to have changed little since they were built.

Original houses

Of course most houses have had various amounts of renovation done to the property over time. For example these home owners have had extensive work done on their front yard, including the addition of shrubbery and garden statues. The little sign in front reads, ‘Attention! L’urine des animaux brûle les arbres!’. I did not know that.

Gorgeous tree and shrubbery!

I quite like the design of this modern church on Rue de la Guadaloupe, however I doubt the little banners and mini message board on the front facade were part of the original design.

Church

I’m guessing this is closer to what the architect had in mind.

Church sans banners & sign

On the way to Gatineau I passed this fellow lying under the Portage Bridge. He was in the same position an hour or so later. I assumed he was without a place to spend the night, sleeping in the safest dry location he could find. I realised many people must have biked by him as I had and probably made similar assumptions on his condition, but what if the fellow was hurt or sick? So I called 311 when I got home, who told me to call 911, who put me through to the ambulance dispatch. After asking me loads of questions on his condition I was unable to answer they sent over an ambulance. So, what is the proper thing to do in such a situation? I will try to find out.

Hmmm, I hope it was the right thing to do. One time I got caught in a downpour along the northern coast of Italy, around where the Alps spill into the Ligurian sea. Darkness was descending and the rain was so ferocious that I could barely see ahead of me, however I managed to make out a small boat house along the coast. It had a roof but no walls. I covered my bike with my poncho and crawled under a piece of wood in my sleeping bag. I was awoken later by someone at the entrance of the boat shelter scanning the inside with a flashlight. I froze when the flashlight hit me. Then whoever it was turned and quickly walked away. I was expecting the police to show up but was so exhausted that I fell asleep waiting. They never did, so I guess they weren’t called. And I was grateful they didn’t. Oh well. Hope he’s OK.

Post navigation

Need a bike route?

If you are looking for a bike route to work, or any other destinations around the region, send me two points of reference: a starting point (like a street intersection, or address, or landmark, etc) and the final destination. These can be sent via the ‘Leave a comment’ tag, or by email at OttawaVeloOutaouais@gmail.com . If the start and finish destinations are within an hour’s ride from each other (and most are) I will scout out a bike route and describe it on this blog, or point you to a link if I've aready tried it out.